Kerry keeps up pressure on fishing concerns

Friday

Oct 21, 2011 at 2:00 AM

U.S. Senator John Kerry is pushing the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to back a federal disaster declaration, mostly for small-boat fishermen, in view of a marked decline in landings that he attributes to recent federal regulations.

Patriot Staff

U.S. Senator John Kerry is pushing the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to back a federal disaster declaration, mostly for small-boat fishermen, in view of a marked decline in landings that he attributes to recent federal regulations. Kerry’s lengthy Oct. 19 letter to NOAA Administrator Jane Lubchenco also seeks funding for a National Marine Fisheries Service scientific review of New England fish stocks by 2013.

“Only with the appropriate information that has been developed with the consent of all stakeholders will we be able to resolve the mistrust between fishermen and federal regulators over the science that forms the basis of fishery management decisions,” Kerry’s letter reads.